Why the hell weren’t us white people out protesting the stereotype-laden reality shows of the last decade? Why didn’t we try to have their advertisers drop them?

It’s the ‘boiling a frog in water’ theory, I think. Do it slow enough and they don’t notice. Make every reality show a little bit more horrible than the next. So when BET jumped it, viewers of BET got scalded and actually did something.

These reality shows sell for a couple of reasons:
1) viewer voyeurism and the consumer is ALL to blame.
2) networks make more money on shows without professional casts and creative writers. Instead of Mary Tyler Moore or Bonanza, we get 20 somethings doing staged hookups in Vegas or Paris MotelSix on a farm.
Is Brett Michaels and VH! any less guilty with “groupies in a house”?
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-p2two5296989jul19,0,7173492.story?coll=ny-music-headlines

If you haven’t already guessed the show’s premise, here it is: A group of beautiful women, all living together in a Bel-Air mansion, must compete to become Michaels’ girlfriend.

You can imagine the possibilities – and Michaels, best known for the hits “Talk Dirty to Me” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” already has. The various games and tasks he dreamed up for his admirers include motocross racing, target practice at a gun range, playing mud football in lingerie and – wait for it – allowing Michaels to play their rumps like percussion instruments on his upcoming solo album.

“You remember the song ‘Sympathy for the Devil’?” Michaels said. “You know, that boomp-chi-bomp-ti-pah, that bongo beat?”

But seriously: Despite the word “love” in “The Rock of Love,” Michaels, who has never married, said he’s just looking for “someone I can like a lot.”

These type of shows perplex me. What is the point? As a product of the “ghetto”, I’ve seen living stereotypes. But they weren’t the norm. Many times they were scorned. But to advertise this as a “Hot Ghetto Mess” does what? And it makes money?

I just don’t know anymore.

I am sorry but I do not recognize others misuse of history. If black bloggers do not understand the history behind Minstrel Show is not my fault. It is the same for their urban legends surrounding working like picnic or even Uncle Tom.

My posts are not driven by Fox News.

The term “minstrel” has been used widely by black bloggers and commentators in connection with this controversy.

BET is owned by Viacom. Its CEO, Sumner Redstone, is not black.

I believe you are misusing the term Minstrel. Minstrel shows had whites dressing up as blacks. BET is black owned and totally staffed by blacks. I do not believe that they can be considered “Minstrel.”